144 Cottage Husbandry and Architecture. 



medicines, might easily be obtained by an additional half acre. From a 

 portion of mangold wurzel as much sugar as would supply the family could 

 easily be extracted, and the rest of the roots and the refuse of the sugar 

 manufacture given to the cow. A part of the sugar in its first, or molasses, 

 state might be fermented and distilled, so as to produce a good spirit; 

 and another part fermented with yest and hops, or the substitutes for hops, 

 so as to make a very good beer. Where bees can be kept, sugar, beer, 

 wine, and spirits can be prepared from their honey, and candles from their 

 wax. The cider and perry might be obtained from standard fruit trees in 

 the ring-fence of the premises, or from standards thinly scattered throughout 

 the whole b% acres. The wine might be made from gooseberries, currants, 

 elder berries^ and other fruits, and from the grapes of a vine made to cover 

 the whole of the house and offices. Coffee might be obtained from chiccory 

 or dandelion roots, or from the seeds of the Astragalus bce'ticus, which is 

 extensively grown for that purpose in Hungary and Bavaria ; and tea 

 (though not so good an imitation as the substitute for coffee) from the dried 

 leaves and flowers of different species of Veronica, from the leaves of Dryas 

 octopetala as in Sweden, of iJubus arcticus as in Norway, of tfaxifraga 

 crassifolia as in Siberia, of Primus spinosa and avium, and of the leaves of 

 the common sweet briar, as in different parts of Europe. The dried leaves 

 of the common black currant afford a substitute for green tea, which very 

 few can detect, and perhaps these leaves, and those of the common sloe, 

 or plum, in the proportion of one fifth of the former and four fifths of the 

 latter, form as good an imitation of the tea generally used by cottagers as 

 can be obtained. Every cottager may distil a coarse brandy from goose- 

 berry or other wines, and whisky from wort of malt, or from beet root 

 molasses ; and he may give the former the flavour of noyeau with the ker- 

 nels of cherries or with a few peach leaves, and the latter the flavour of gin 

 with juniper berries. 



8. An additional acre would keep three or four sheep for wool, and 

 admit of a rood of flax or hemp every year, which would keep any ordinary 

 family in linen of every description, and for the most part in woollen ; but 

 in scarcely any part of the world could it be desirable to attempt the home 

 growth and manufacture of these articles, now that the influence of ma- 

 chinery and steam is felt from pole to pole. 



We shall now give our reasons for proposing to introduce a new feature 

 into the cottage system of Britain, that of every cottager (not living in a 

 coal or peat district) raising a part, or the whole, of his own fuel. Every 

 person who lives in the country, or even looks at a newspaper, is aware 

 that the sufferings of the poorfrom cold, during the winter season, are fully 

 as great as from want of food ; and that pilfering from woods, hedges, or 

 fences, is one of the commonest of crimes. In former times the cot- 

 tager's fuel was obtained from the bushes which grew upon the commons 

 and waste lands ; but, since these have been enclosed, the poor man has no 

 resource but those of purchasing, stealing, or begging. In the coal dis- 

 tricts, or in those where turf is used as fuel, or where wood is very abun- 

 dant, a common day-labourer may perhaps be able to procure his fuel by 

 purchase : but these districts are few ; and in by far the greater number the 

 labourer of necessity procures his fuel by pulling the hedges, cutting here 

 and there a branch of such trees as come in his way, breaking gates and 

 other wooden fences, and pilfering from the coal heaps or faggot stacks of 

 his richer neighbours. 



Where there are children, the task of catering for firewood is generally 

 committed to them. The mother sends them out, as soon as they can walk, 

 to bring in sticks ; and they may be seen gathering them in the nearest planta- 

 tions or woods, and pulling them from the hedges along the roads and lanes ; 

 in short, wherever they can get them. This is the commencement of the 

 modern education of the peasant. In this way the first lessons of thieving 



